Moscow movie theatres refuse to show documentary about Khodorkovsky

Kommersant writes about the problems facing distributors of a documentary about Khodorkovsky, by German film director Cyril Tuschi

Share

1 pages in this article

Kommersant writes about the problems facing distributors of a documentary about Khodorkovsky, by German film director Cyril Tuschi. According to the newspaper, the beginning of its demonstration, scheduled for December 1, was practically disrupted: 19 out of 20 Moscow movie theatres refused to show it. According to Olga Papernaya, art director of CineClub stock company, which owns the right to the film, only one movie theatre, Eldar, is willing to show the film, starting from December 1.

“We received a distribution certificate for the film in September 2011 and held talks with many movie theatres and film distribution networks. A preliminary agreement on the distribution of the Khodorkovsky film was received,” Papernaya told Kommersant. “When the time came for signing contracts, our partners refused to do that. The refusals were made verbally, so we can only guess what was the reason.”

Kommersant writes that analysts of the film market refused point-blank to comment on the situation with the demonstration of the Khodorkovsky film. “You should understand it by yourself,” said one of them, who spoke on conditions of anonymity.

“I certainly do not see the hand of the Kremlin here,” Alexander Rodnyansky, a film director, the author of the notorious film about neo-fascists entitled “Russia-88,” which did not reach demonstration either, told The Kommersant. “Most probably, the owners of movie theatres are overly cautious, in order to avoid problems. The electoral campaign is going on, and anything may happen.”